Unsinkable boat



S. PONZIO.

UNSINKABLE BOAT. A PPLICATION HLED MAR 1, I920- .1; 392,217.PatentedSept. 27,1921.

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Patented Sept. 27,1921..

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UNSlNKABLE BOAT.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1. 1920. 1,392,217.

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UNSINKABLE BOAT.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 1. 1920.

Patented Sept. 27, 1921.

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1,392,217.' Patentedflept. 27,1921...

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UNITED STATES SALVATORE ronzmprsiraaousn, New YORK; I

, 1 7 UNSINKABLE BOAT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 27, 1921.

Application filed March 1. 1920. Serial No.'362,254.

To all whom it may concern-.-

Be it known that I, SALVATORE .Ponzro, a citizen of Italy, residing atSyracuse,- in the county, of Onondaga and State of New York, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Unsinkable Boats,.of which thefollowingis aspecification. i This invention relates to shipconstruction and has for itsobject the provision .of" means carried by ashipand carrying a plurality of buoys, this means being movable to lieupon the surface of the water in case of injury to the ship whereby theship will be not only prevented from sinking but also held upright uponan even keel.

An important object is the provision of a structure of this characterwhich includes a plurality of wing-like members pivotally mounted uponthe sides of a ship somewhat below the normal water line thereof andnormally held in elevated position by suit able cables trained aboutproper windlasses, these wing members being swingable downwardly ontothe water in the event of a mishap, and carrying a plurality of barswhich are adapted to be rigidly secured at their upper ends with respectto the ship whereby to prevent folding up of the wings.

An additional object is the provision of a device of this characterwhich will be comparatively simple and inexpensive in manufacture. andinstallation, which will be highly eflicient in preventing loss of aship,.and which will be a general improvement in the art.

lVith the above and other objects and advantages in view the inventionconsists 'in the details of construction to be hereinafter more fullydescribed and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings inwhich Figure 1 is an end elevation of a ship equipped with my device,the wings being,

of aship with the in extended position,

Fig. 5 is a plan view with the wings in folded position,

Fig. 6 is a plan view with the wings in extended position, and

mechanism.

Fig. at is a similar view showing the Wings Fig. 7 a detail vieW.Referring more particularly to the'drawings, the letter A designatesthehull of a ship and B designates the deck. In carrying out myinvention I provide upon each side of the hull a pair of wing members,each of which is designated broadly by the numeral 15. Each wing membercomprises a frame formed of transverse bars16 which I are pivotallyconnected, as shown at 17, with the hull, preferably at a slightdistance below or at least adjacent the normal water line. Thesetransverse bars were upwardly and inwardly curved at their outer ends,as shown at 18. Each frame further includes a plurality of longitudinalbars 19 which are secured to the transverse bars 16 and the inner frameis braced by a plurality of diagonally extending bars or the like, 20.Each frame carries a plurality of spaced buoyant members 21 which arepreferably hermetically sealed tanks rigidly secured in position uponthe frames by any suitable means.

In order that the wings may be held in their normal or upright position,each frame has connected therewith one or more steel cables 22 which aresuitably secured to the frame and which are trained about suitableWindlassstructures 23 mounted upon the deck of the ship and providedwith the usual operating handle and pawl and ratchet By this means itwill be seen that the wing members may be readily maintained in inactiveposition.

In the event of a collision or any other mishap which results in tearinga hole in the hull of the ship, in order to maintain the ship afloat, itis merely necessary to release the cables 22 by unwinding them from thewindlasses 23, whereupon the wing members will descend and engage thesurface of the water. As this alone would not be sufiicient to maintainthe ship aifoat, it is necessary to provide means for holding the wingmembers down on the water. In order to accomplish this I provide aplurality of strong steel bars 24 which may be solid or tubular, aspreferred, which are pivotally connected, as shown at 25, withthe'transverse frame bars 16, and which have their upper ends adapted tobe forced into retaining members 26 mounted either u on the deck or uponthe sides of the hull; ad acent the deck. It will be seen that whenthese bars 24 are pressed position.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawings it will beapparent that I have thus provided readily operable and easilyoontrolledmeans which may, in an extremely short time, be moved intosuch position as to support a ship in the event of damage to the hullthereof which might cause danger of sinking. a a

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it is of course to be understood that I reserve the right tomake such changes in the form, construction, andarrangement of parts aswill not depart from the spirit of the invention Having thus describedmy invention, I claim:

Incombination with the hull of a ship, a buoying device comprising aplurality of frames pivoted upon the hull adjacent the the hull of theshipnear the deck line and pivotally connected with the frame, each ofsald brace bars belng ]01Ilt6(l lntermechate its ends by means of a rulejoint, the function of said brace bars being to hold said frame insubstantially horizontal position when in use. i

In testimony whereofI afiix my signature.

' SALVATORE PONZIO.

